Rabbi Joel Landau of San Francisco and Rabbi Daniel Rockoff of Kansas City have made a wager on the World Series: The loser will pay for a Kiddush lunch at the winning side’s synagogue.
Landau is the rabbi at Congregation Adath Israel in the Sunset District; Rockoff leads Congregation Beth Israel Abraham and Voliner in Overland Park, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City, Mo. Both shuls are Orthodox. The San Francisco Giants are playing the Kansas City Royals in the World Series, which began Oct. 21.
Born in the 1960s in Queens, N.Y., not far from Shea Stadium, Landau grew up a New York Mets fan and still shudders over his team’s Game 7 loss to the Oakland A’s in the 1973 World Series.
The San Francisco rabbi said the bet came about “at the behest of my congregants.” He contacted Rockoff — “I just called him, out of the blue,” Landau said — who then got the OK from his congregants. Everyone agreed that the cost of the Kiddush lunch would be capped at $250.
Over the course of the playoffs, Landau said he has made mention in shul “that our prayers have been assisting the Giants.” For example, he cited the team’s 18-inning win over the Washington Nationals on Yom Kippur, which included a dramatic tying rally in the ninth inning “while we were still fasting and praying.”
Added Landau: “
If anybody wants to come to our minyan, we will be adding a special prayer for a Giants victory. The more the merrier.” — j. staff